Technical Leadership Contract Job Trends in the North West

Technical Leadership
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Technical Leadership skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 25 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 62 80 85
Rank change year-on-year +18 +5 +10
Contract jobs citing Technical Leadership 140 48 35
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 3.58% 2.21% 1.45%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.34% 2.50% 1.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 88 35 20
10th Percentile £428 £455 £463
25th Percentile £522 £483 £586
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £570 £650
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -12.31% +30.98%
75th Percentile £688 £613 £719
90th Percentile £750 £666 £850
England median daily rate £600 £575 £620
% change year-on-year +4.35% -7.26% -1.59%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £77.25 - £62.50
Median hourly rate £83.50 £70.16 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.01% +7.94% -
75th Percentile £89.75 - £67.50
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £87.83 £81.00 £38.50
% change year-on-year +8.43% +110.39% +92.50%

All Process & Methodology Skills
North West

Technical Leadership falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 3,228 1,919 2,008
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 82.62% 88.43% 83.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,839 1,275 1,125
10th Percentile £295 £283 £294
25th Percentile £402 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £455 £488
Median % change year-on-year +9.89% -6.67% -2.50%
75th Percentile £598 £575 £577
90th Percentile £675 £680 £675
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 343 132 108
10th Percentile £14.94 £13.54 £16.43
25th Percentile £23.33 £17.30 £29.25
Median hourly rate £46.80 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +86.10% -40.83% +28.79%
75th Percentile £71.91 £47.12 £62.50
90th Percentile £83.75 £67.25 £72.40
England median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% -2.05%

Technical Leadership
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Technical Leadership relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Technical Leadership job vacancy trend in the North West

Technical Leadership
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Technical Leadership.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Technical Leadership

Technical Leadership
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Technical Leadership in the North West over the 6 months to 25 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Technical Leadership in the North West

Technical Leadership
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Technical Leadership.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Technical Leadership

Technical Leadership
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Technical Leadership within the North West region over the 6 months to 25 September 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Manchester +23 101 £600 +4.35% 182
Lancashire -5 17 £650 +1.96% 23
Cheshire +6 16 £476 +0.21% 26
Merseyside -19 3 £625 - 20
Technical Leadership
England

Technical Leadership
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 3 (2.14%) Microsoft Exchange
1 3 (2.14%) OpenStack
1 3 (2.14%) SharePoint
2 2 (1.43%) CMS
3 1 (0.71%) Apache
3 1 (0.71%) Apache Airflow
Business Applications
1 3 (2.14%) Adobe Campaign
2 2 (1.43%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.71%) Dynamics AX
3 1 (0.71%) Salesforce CRM
3 1 (0.71%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 64 (45.71%) AWS
2 43 (30.71%) Azure
3 18 (12.86%) GCP
3 18 (12.86%) Serverless
4 12 (8.57%) Entra ID
5 11 (7.86%) GitHub
6 9 (6.43%) GitHub Actions
7 8 (5.71%) AWS Lambda
7 8 (5.71%) Microsoft 365
8 7 (5.00%) Azure DevOps
9 6 (4.29%) Amazon S3
10 5 (3.57%) Amazon ECS
10 5 (3.57%) Amazon SQS
11 4 (2.86%) Amazon EKS
11 4 (2.86%) Azure AKS
11 4 (2.86%) OCI
11 4 (2.86%) Power Platform
12 3 (2.14%) Amazon EventBridge
12 3 (2.14%) Anthropic Claude
12 3 (2.14%) Google Gemini
Communications & Networking
1 6 (4.29%) Network Security
2 5 (3.57%) Firewall
3 4 (2.86%) WAN
4 3 (2.14%) BGP
4 3 (2.14%) MPLS
4 3 (2.14%) OSPF
4 3 (2.14%) VPN
5 2 (1.43%) Ethernet VPN
5 2 (1.43%) Internet
5 2 (1.43%) LAN
5 2 (1.43%) NAS
5 2 (1.43%) SAN
5 2 (1.43%) SD-WAN
5 2 (1.43%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.71%) Cisco IOS
6 1 (0.71%) Cisco Nexus
6 1 (0.71%) Multicast
6 1 (0.71%) Unified Communications
6 1 (0.71%) VLAN
6 1 (0.71%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (5.00%) DynamoDB
2 6 (4.29%) Data Lake
3 5 (3.57%) MongoDB
3 5 (3.57%) Relational Database
4 4 (2.86%) NoSQL
5 3 (2.14%) Amazon Aurora
5 3 (2.14%) Metadata
5 3 (2.14%) Oracle Database
5 3 (2.14%) Oracle Exadata
5 3 (2.14%) RDBMS
6 2 (1.43%) Data Warehouse
6 2 (1.43%) Delta Lake
7 1 (0.71%) Amazon Athena
7 1 (0.71%) Amazon RDS
7 1 (0.71%) Amazon Redshift
7 1 (0.71%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.71%) SAP BW
7 1 (0.71%) SAP HANA
7 1 (0.71%) SQL Server
7 1 (0.71%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 8 (5.71%) Git
2 6 (4.29%) GitLab
3 4 (2.86%) Jenkins
4 3 (2.14%) Claude Code
4 3 (2.14%) REST Assured
4 3 (2.14%) Selenium
5 2 (1.43%) Cypress.io
5 2 (1.43%) Gatling
5 2 (1.43%) Serenity BDD
6 1 (0.71%) Burp Suite
6 1 (0.71%) JIRA
6 1 (0.71%) JMeter
6 1 (0.71%) Postman
6 1 (0.71%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.71%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 44 (31.43%) Social Skills
2 25 (17.86%) Public Sector
3 17 (12.14%) Finance
4 9 (6.43%) Analytical Skills
5 8 (5.71%) Retail
6 6 (4.29%) Banking
6 6 (4.29%) Influencing Skills
6 6 (4.29%) Marketing
7 4 (2.86%) Military
8 2 (1.43%) Games
8 2 (1.43%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.71%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.71%) Financial Institution
9 1 (0.71%) iGaming
9 1 (0.71%) Legal
9 1 (0.71%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 56 (40.00%) Architect
2 39 (27.86%) Lead
3 22 (15.71%) Technical Architect
4 21 (15.00%) Solutions Architect
5 15 (10.71%) Senior
6 14 (10.00%) Developer
7 10 (7.14%) Lead Developer
8 9 (6.43%) Lead Architect
8 9 (6.43%) Principal Engineer
9 8 (5.71%) Java Developer
9 8 (5.71%) Technical Leader
10 7 (5.00%) Data Engineer
11 6 (4.29%) ServiceNow Architect
12 5 (3.57%) Azure Engineer
12 5 (3.57%) DevOps Engineer
12 5 (3.57%) Lead Java Developer
13 4 (2.86%) AWS Engineer
13 4 (2.86%) Engineering Manager
13 4 (2.86%) Senior Developer
13 4 (2.86%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (18.57%) Terraform
2 15 (10.71%) Node.js
3 14 (10.00%) REST
4 12 (8.57%) Spring
5 11 (7.86%) Spring Boot
6 10 (7.14%) React
7 6 (4.29%) Kafka
8 5 (3.57%) AngularJS
8 5 (3.57%) Middleware
8 5 (3.57%) Next.js
8 5 (3.57%) OAuth
8 5 (3.57%) OpenID
9 4 (2.86%) .NET
9 4 (2.86%) AWS CDK
10 3 (2.14%) Oracle GoldenGate
10 3 (2.14%) Playwright
11 2 (1.43%) A2A Protocol
11 2 (1.43%) Model Context Protocol
11 2 (1.43%) Nunjucks
11 2 (1.43%) Spring Cloud
Miscellaneous
1 22 (15.71%) Cloud Native
2 12 (8.57%) Distributed Systems
3 8 (5.71%) Onboarding
4 7 (5.00%) CMDB
5 5 (3.57%) Enterprise Software
5 5 (3.57%) Private Cloud
6 4 (2.86%) Hybrid Cloud
6 4 (2.86%) Legacy Systems
6 4 (2.86%) Marketing Technology
6 4 (2.86%) Product Ownership
6 4 (2.86%) Replication
6 4 (2.86%) SCADA
7 3 (2.14%) Culture of Ownership
7 3 (2.14%) Data Centre
7 3 (2.14%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (2.14%) Operational Technology
7 3 (2.14%) Virtual Team
8 2 (1.43%) Data Structures
8 2 (1.43%) Enterprise Storage
8 2 (1.43%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 11 (7.86%) Linux
2 9 (6.43%) Windows
3 5 (3.57%) Windows Server
4 4 (2.86%) Apple iOS
5 3 (2.14%) AIX
5 3 (2.14%) Android
5 3 (2.14%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.71%) CentOS
6 1 (0.71%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.71%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.71%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 36 (25.71%) DevOps
2 35 (25.00%) Roadmaps
2 35 (25.00%) Stakeholder Management
3 34 (24.29%) CI/CD
3 34 (24.29%) Mentoring
4 30 (21.43%) Continuous Improvement
4 30 (21.43%) Software Engineering
5 29 (20.71%) Agile
6 28 (20.00%) Microservices
7 24 (17.14%) Infrastructure as Code
8 21 (15.00%) Integration Patterns
8 21 (15.00%) Migration
8 21 (15.00%) Problem-Solving
9 20 (14.29%) Test Automation
10 19 (13.57%) Architectural Patterns
11 18 (12.86%) Risk Management
12 17 (12.14%) Decision-Making
13 16 (11.43%) Enterprise Architecture
13 16 (11.43%) Observability
13 16 (11.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 19 (13.57%) Java
2 18 (12.86%) TypeScript
3 15 (10.71%) Python
4 13 (9.29%) JavaScript
5 9 (6.43%) SQL
6 4 (2.86%) Bicep
6 4 (2.86%) C#
6 4 (2.86%) PowerShell
7 3 (2.14%) Bash
8 1 (0.71%) ABAP
8 1 (0.71%) Google Apps Script
8 1 (0.71%) Kotlin
8 1 (0.71%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.71%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 47 (33.57%) Security Cleared
2 43 (30.71%) SC Cleared
3 8 (5.71%) BPSS Clearance
4 4 (2.86%) Cisco Certification
5 3 (2.14%) CCIE
5 3 (2.14%) CCNP
5 3 (2.14%) Degree
5 3 (2.14%) TOGAF Certification
6 2 (1.43%) Azure Certification
6 2 (1.43%) CISSP
6 2 (1.43%) Microsoft Certified Professional
7 1 (0.71%) (ISC)2 CCSP
7 1 (0.71%) BC Cleared
7 1 (0.71%) CISM
7 1 (0.71%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.71%) DV Cleared
7 1 (0.71%) GIAC
7 1 (0.71%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
7 1 (0.71%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.71%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (10.00%) QA
2 10 (7.14%) Accessibility
3 5 (3.57%) Data Quality
4 4 (2.86%) NIST
5 3 (2.14%) GDPR
6 2 (1.43%) Actionable Recommendations
6 2 (1.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (1.43%) NCSC
6 2 (1.43%) NIST 800
7 1 (0.71%) GRC
7 1 (0.71%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 20 (14.29%) Docker
2 7 (5.00%) Active Directory
3 5 (3.57%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (2.86%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (2.14%) Ceph
5 3 (2.14%) KVM
5 3 (2.14%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.71%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.71%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 18 (12.86%) Kubernetes
2 9 (6.43%) Ansible
3 7 (5.00%) Single Sign-On
4 4 (2.86%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (2.14%) Data Guard
5 3 (2.14%) Oracle RMAN
6 2 (1.43%) CASB
6 2 (1.43%) Grafana
6 2 (1.43%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.71%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.71%) Puppet
7 1 (0.71%) QRadar
7 1 (0.71%) SCCM
Vendors
1 22 (15.71%) Microsoft
2 12 (8.57%) Google
3 7 (5.00%) ServiceNow
4 5 (3.57%) Oracle
4 5 (3.57%) VMware
5 4 (2.86%) Adobe
5 4 (2.86%) CyberArk
6 3 (2.14%) Apple
6 3 (2.14%) Cisco
6 3 (2.14%) Databricks
6 3 (2.14%) SAP
6 3 (2.14%) Splunk
7 2 (1.43%) Sage
7 2 (1.43%) Salesforce
7 2 (1.43%) Zscaler
8 1 (0.71%) Blue Prism
8 1 (0.71%) Dynatrace
8 1 (0.71%) IBM
8 1 (0.71%) Perforce
8 1 (0.71%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud